Song-shot Series
by MusicLover315
Summary: A collection of one-shots, none of which relating to one another, based off of different songs that I find. Some are more loosely based than others, but each chapter will be a new fandom and a new song. Current Chapter: Jacob Black x OC
1. Batfam x OC- Father: Demi Lovato

**Huy guys!**

 **So, it has DEFINITELY been a while since I have posted anything on this website, and I want to apologize. I know a lot of people wanted more work with the Pregnancy Files and Light, but I honestly just haven't been writing lately. I've been so busy with finishing up high school and getting my priorities together for college that writing was just the last thing on my mind.**

 **But that's pretty much over now! I am almost done with high school. I don't have anything left to really do accept my one AP test, so I am as free as a bird and have plenty of time for writing now. I really want to get back into it, so this is my attempt at doing so while I try working on an actual story.**

 **This will be a one-shot series inspired by different songs I like, so it will probably be pretty random. I won't necessarily be taking requests, but I'm always open for suggestions so feel free to leave them. Otherwise, I really hope you guys enjoy this. I am going to try working on a full story, but I don't know how that's going to play out for now so I will keep you updated.**

 **Thanks for reading and sticking with me, and if you're new here, welcome! Enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Batman, any of the DC franchises, or the song "Father" by Demi Lovato.**

* * *

 _Father, I wanna say thank you  
_ _Even if I don't understand..._

Growing up in the Wayne household had never been easy for me.

I was adopted into the family at the age of 16 from the orphanage that I was sent to after the death of my mother.

I never really knew who my father was when I was little. Every time I would ask my mother, the woman would simply say that it didn't matter. I had her, and that was all that mattered. We didn't need him.

She was a proud, independent woman. So after she passed, and my father showed up at the orphanage to collect me, I realized almost immediately why she never said a word about him.

He was rich. Filthy rich. Wayne was not a name that people took lightly. He was powerful— a playboy type that I had watched control the media in this small, rotting town for years now.

But she was right. We didn't need him. It was no secret that the two of us had struggled. Living was definitely not easy going from paycheck to paycheck. It was difficult to make ends meet most months, but we managed. I might not have gotten all of the small, insignificant things that all the other kids had while growing up, but that never really bothered me too much. I saw how hard my mother worked to support the two of us, so I never really pushed matters such as those. I had what I needed, and that was enough.

I went my whole life not needing my father. I never really hated him— neither did my mother— but then again, I never really felt any sort of emotion towards him. I had no connection to him. He was just a minuscule thought that popped up in my head from time to time, never really holding much importance but still there nonetheless.

So after moving in with him and his big, makeshift family, I found that the disconnection I always had towards the idea of my father didn't really change. The two of us didn't talk beyond what was necessary, and I rarely saw him due to his busy schedule.

His sons were, unsurprisingly, no different. They were all busy doing their own thing, which was fine in retrospect. But after a couple of years living alone in the same household day in and day out, it began to get to me. I never thought that I would feel this way. I was so used to the idea that I was the outsider of the house. I came in too late. The only reason they took me in to begin with was out of pity that my mother passed and I had nobody left. After all, nobody wants that on their conscience.

But now that I was older, I began to realize something.

I wanted a family.

I wanted to have people I could talk to about my problems and listen to theirs in return. I wanted to have a connection with people that went past the superficiality of friendships. I wanted to go out to lunch with my father after school now that I'm a senior and get out early enough to do so. I wanted my brothers to trust me enough to tell me where they're sneaking out to nearly every night. They think I can't hear them, but they're loud as hell climbing in and out of windows and creaking doors at the early hours of the morning.

I wanted a family. I craved it. And I tried. I tried so hard to create something from nothing.

But I wasn't a magician. I wasn't a miracle worker.

I tried to schedule some lunches into my father's busy work schedule. When bringing it up, he gave me a confused look— asking what was wrong. Nothing was wrong. Why was it wrong to want to spend time with him?

Despite the inquisitive glances I'd get from him, he agreed.

However, work always managed to rear its ugly head, and he was never able to make it. I could see that he didn't think it was a big deal, but it was. Why couldn't he see that? It was a huge deal. I wanted a relationship with him. Something beyond a nod as we passed each other in the halls of our house or a dinner full of small talk and silly arguments between my brothers.

How was I supposed to do that though? What could I do to make him see what this meant to me? Maybe it was too late. I was eighteen now, after all. I was an adult. It was too late to build anything with him.

Then I tried my brothers.

Jason was always gone, however. He lived elsewhere and was never in the manor anymore.

Tim spent all of his time holed up in his bedroom behind his computer, but it was what made him happy so I didn't question it.

Damian was the most simple in his thoughts about me. He hated me. He didn't like the fact that I shared his father's blood because it took away that special connection he once had with the man. If he looked hard enough, however, he would understand that blood meant nothing in this situation. He still had a much closer connection to the man than I ever would. But I never said anything. I let the situation be. It wasn't worth it.

Dick was the most willing to give me a bit of affection. However, the pats on the shoulder and cheerful smiles made me feel like nothing more than a stranger.

Because that's exactly what I was: a stranger. A stranger in my own home. As the months flew by, I grew increasingly bitter about the idea. The bitterness grew and grew until hatred began to form in its place.

It wasn't until my graduation that I had a small epiphany. As I walked up onto the stage to grab my diploma, I looked into the crowd and saw my whole family sitting there watching me.

They actually showed up.

It threw me off. I wasn't expecting them to actually show up. They were all just so busy…

And it was then that I realized.

It's not their fault. It seemed silly to really think about, but for the past few years I had begun to grow this hatred towards them for excluding me— making me feel like I didn't belong. But they tried. Just like they tried to show up tonight for this important moment in my life. They didn't purposely ignore me. They didn't purposely cut me out. The situation was just… odd.

I came into the family really late in the game. I couldn't help that, but then again, neither could they. They didn't have to tell me their secrets— I knew for a fact that they had secrets— because they didn't involve me. They at least treated me with civility. That was more than most could ask for in this type of situation.

I was lonely and wanted more, sure. But that wasn't their problem. It was mine. I can't put the blame on them. I just have to accept my situation for what it is and learn to live with it.

Alone.

Because that's what I was for now. I was alone, and if I wanted to change that, I needed to do that on my own terms.

As I looked out from that graduation stage, I came to accept my situation for what it is. As I looked at the hint of pride showing on Bruce's face, I could feel a weight lifting off my chest. And as I looked at the various smiles and grimaces my brother's faces held as they watched me, or purposely chose not to, I smiled a true, genuine smile. A smile that I hadn't shown in a long time, since before my mother passed.

I should be thanking my family. Because really, all those years that I thought were hurting me were actually building me into the strong, independent person I am today.

"Thank you," I mouthed to them, a look of content taking over my features.

Bruce's expression softened and he simply nodded. He understood exactly what was going through my mind in that moment, and it was then that I felt closer to my father than I ever had before.

I released a deep, pent-up breath and made my way off the stage and back into the crowd of my newly-graduated peers to take my seat.

'Everything would be okay,' I told myself for the first time in three years

Everything would be okay.


	2. Todoroki x Sister OC

**So here is chapter 2!**

 **Please, do me a favor and when reading this series, if you notice any mistakes in terms of pronouns and prospective (you instead of I), please let me know. I am writing these originally as reader inserts for a different website and sometimes, a few slip ups happen in translation. There's not much I can do about that. I don't spend too much time worrying about editing these, as they are more of just an outlet to let out some emotion and practice some writing, so it's bound to happen here and there.**

 **But yeah, otherwise, have you guys seen Infinity Wars yet? I did and it wrecked me emotionally. I won't give any spoilers here and please don't leave any in the reviews, but if you wanna DM me to talk... it really just messed me up. One of my favorite characters was unfortunately a victim to this movie and now it's just hard for me to think about it. It sounds so dramatic, haha! But yeah, tis messed me up.**

 **Anyways, back to the actual chapter, I hope you guys enjoy. This song was one that I absolutely knew I had to write for as soon as it came out, and one that actually kind of inspired me to do this whole series in the first place so yeah, please enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Boku no Hero Academia nor do I own "In My Blood" by Shawn Mendes.**

* * *

 _Help me  
_ _It's like the walls are caving in  
_ _Sometimes I feel like giving up, but I just can't_

\- "In My Blood" by Shawn Mendes

" _You're not my sister."_

I sat, curled up in a ball against the bathroom wall. The steam from the shower filled the room, making it harder for me to breath as his words played through my head on a continuous loop.

" _You're just like him."_

My hands shakily made their way into my hair, clutching until I felt the stinging pain of multiple strands being ripped out.

" _Please… just leave me alone."_

A sob forced its way out the back of my throat. Fortunately, the sound of the running water covered it up.

Why did he hate me so much? My own brother treated me like the very villains he was training to defeat. I didn't miss the subtle glares he gave me from time to time or the tense, dismissive shrugs he gave people when they asked about me.

But why? What did I do to him?

" _You just… You look just like him. You_ are _just like him. I can't…"_

I was nothing like _him._

I wanted to be mad at my brother for being so incredibly and undeniably stupid, but I couldn't find it in me to do so. If anything, I blame myself. There had to have been something that I could have done to prevent this whole mess.

But what?

What miracle could I have worked to save my mother from the years of abuse she had to endure? What act of god could I have performed to stop that incident from happening all those years ago? The incident that scarred my brother in more ways than one. The incident that tore my family apart…

I don't know. I don't know what I could have done to save my family from the inevitable tragedy that fell upon them.

My breathing became uneven and choppy. I clutched my hair harder than before, digging my fingernails into my scalp, ignoring the wet sensation against my fingers.

I don't know what to do. My twin brother— the person closest to me, the only person I really ever had on my side— hates me. I remind him of the past. The past that was filled with hatred and sorrow. The past that was filled with nothing but bad memories.

He hates me. He hates me so much.

" _You are just like him. I can't…"_

I couldn't breath. It felt as if I were drowning. No matter how much I gasped and choked for air, nothing would happen. A crushing weight fell upon my chest and I could feel myself beginning to hyperventilate.

I was spiraling into a panic as I sat, back pressed against the cold wall, my thoughts a confusing swirl of endless dismay.

I wanted to make it better. I wanted things to go back to the way they used to be. I wanted my brother back. The brother that used to be my other half. The brother that used to hold my hand at night when I had bad dreams, and sit with me until I fell asleep at night. The brother that used to look out for me and understand that I did the same.

But how? How can I fix what's so horribly broken?

'You can't,' the little voice in the back of my head stated harshly.

'You can't fix it. It's pointless. It's all pointless. What's done is done.'

I couldn't breath. My brain felt like it was on fire and my chest felt like it was about to collapse. Spots started swimming across my vision and my sight started to tunnel slowly.

I lowered myself onto my side and curled up into a ball on the hard, tile floor.

I tried to focus on anything other than my toxic thoughts— my breathing, my heartbeat, the sound of the shower pounding on the floor of the tub, anything. But nothing worked. The thoughts kept coming and coming until they eventually consumed me.

Suddenly, the spots that filled my vision spread until it was all I could see.

And then everything went black.

* * *

I sat propped up on the ledge beside my bed staring out the window blankly.

After blacking out from the anxiety attack, I woke up to my sister knocking on the bathroom door asking what was taking me so long. From there, I picked myself up off the ground and got dressed into some nightwear, wetting my hair to make the whole situation look like less than it was.

Looking out the window, took a few minutes to bask in the calmness of the low I was in. Everything was still. Everything was calm. I could finally think clearly.

Sometimes it scared me how hopeless everything felt when I had attacks like that. It was like nothing would make it better. I would just live in that moment of misery forever, and there was nothing that anybody could do to change it.

Lately I was beginning to give into that feeling more and more.

But it would be okay. I was entering a new stage of my life soon— attending school for the first time with people other than my family. My brother would be there— he had been going there for the past year after all— but it wasn't just him. I could block him out if worse came to worst. Although I hoped that this might give us an opportunity to get closer, even just a little. It wasn't likely, but there was still a chance.

But even if that didn't work out, there would still be people there to turn to. People that I can befriend and connect with.

Things will change. It will get better.

It just had to.


	3. Jacob x OC- Consequences: Camila Cabello

**So this one is a long one, and that it because it is actually an idea that I have had for a fic for a long time now. I didn't actually realize that this song-fic was becoming that idea until I had finished writing it, and here we are now! 'Consequences' honestly fit the idea so well, so it's no wonder that this song-fic morphed into the plot of the fic I wanted to write.**

 **With that being said, however, I did want to go into a lot more detail with the fic and actually had plans of plot beyond what is in this song-fic, so if you liked this chapter and want to see a more in depth version of this that also extends past this small timeline, then let me know because I definitely had more plans for this idea.**

 **But anyways, here's the next chapter for you guys! I know, it's been a while since I've updated, and I will try to update more regularly (or even kind of regularly), I'm just busy in school (I'm a bio major after all) and recently started an internship, so I'm going to be pretty busy... But I will try my best!**

 **Let me know how you guys like this chapter, and if you have any song requests, just let me know and I'll check them out if I don't already know them.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Twilight or any of its characters, nor do I own 'Consequences' by Camila Cabello!**

* * *

" _Loving you was sunshine, safe and sound  
_ _A steady place to let down my defenses.  
_ _But loving you had consequences."_

* * *

AUGUST

* * *

Michelle heard the familiar sound of the back door opening followed by heavy footsteps. She paused in her typing, lifting her head to confirm the footsteps heading towards her. She reached out for the unopened bottle of water on the coffee table beside her and held it over the back of the couch knowingly.

She didn't need to look to know who it was.

"You know me so well Mitchie," teased the other person as they grabbed the drink out of her hand. She rolled her eyes lightheartedly and went back to typing, not missing the distinct clicking sound of the bottle cap twisting open for the first time followed by the crackling of the plastic being drained of its contents.

After a few more minutes of shuffling around in the open kitchen, a heavy weight dropped onto the cushion beside her. She sunk into the dip, falling into the lanky body of her best friend.

"Whatcha doing?" Jacob sung, taking a peek at what was pulled up on her laptop. His brows furrowed. "What's that?"

"It's my project for creative writing."

"You take creative writing?"

"You're not funny."

He laughed, his usual dopey smile stretching his features in a familiar way. "You know I'm kidding. What's the project this time?"

Michelle was used to talking about her creative endeavors with Jacob. They've been best friends since they were little, and writing had always been important to her. So of course, he was the one to listen to her whenever she wanted to rant about a short story she was writing or— when she got into her creative writing class— her weekly projects that she spent most of her time working on.

She settled herself again, getting comfortable under Jacob's arm. "It was a group project this time. We have to turn one of our previous writing assignments into a short film. I'm editing it now."

He glanced briefly at the screen before shrugging and reaching for the television remote. "Looks complicated."

The television came to life with whatever channel that was playing when it was last shut off. It was a sports channel, so she could only assume that Billy had been the one to last use the TV. She usually joined Billy in watching his sports, even if she had no clue what was going on half the time, but she had been so busy working on this project last night that she didn't have time for anything else. It sucked to miss her quality time Billy— he was like a second dad to her after all— but she can spend time with him whenever. This project, on the other hand, is due in a couple days and it still needed a TON of editing before it was finished.

"It's not really that hard," she mumbles, shuffling a couple clips around to an order she liked. "You just have to get used to it."

The room fell into silence. Jacob watched some action movie he found while flipping through channels and Michelle worked on her project. Right as the movie was wrapping up, the front door opened, catching both of the teens' attention.

"Jacob? Michelle?"

"In here Billy!" Michelle called. Deciding to take a break, she pulled away from Jacob and threw her laptop onto the couch. It wasn't until she stood up that she realized how long she had been sitting in the same spot. Her legs were practically numb and her back was aching due to how she'd been hunched over.

Jacob must have noticed the grimace on her face, because he immediately pulled her back down onto the couch so that she was facing away from him. She didn't fight him. She already knew what he was silently offering. So, she let him work his magic.

Nothing needed to be said. Jacob gave her a quick, yet effective, shoulder rub before cracking her back in a way that only he can do. No words were exchanged. In fact, this was how most of their time together went: comfortably silent. They had been around each other so much at this point that words just didn't seem necessary most of the time. They were so used to the other's presence that everything just came naturally to them.

That's what Jacob and Michelle's relationship had always been. Natural.

* * *

"Would you guys slow down! I'm running in flip flops here! Cut a woman some slack!"

A round of laughter sounded from ahead of Michelle, causing her to roll her eyes and run faster to catch up. She was not a clumsy person. Not the most athletic, sure, but running was never a problem for her.

At least when she wasn't in flip flops and a bathing suit cover-up it wasn't.

When she finally reached the three boys, she bent over to try and rub some life back into her calves. They had started burning a couple hundred feet back, but now they had passed the stage of feeling like they were on fire and moved straight into going numb.

"It's not our fault your slow."

Michelle looked up and glared at Quil. "Yeah, well it's not my fault you guys have the bodies of green beans. I'm petite. I can't stilt walk like you guys can."

Embry crossed his arms and smirked. "I don't know whether to laugh at that or be genuinely offended. You know how sensitive Quil is about his noodle body."

"You know, I can let those comments slide with Mitchie, but if you think you're going to get away with it, then you've got another thing coming!"

And with that, the two dunderheads were off— Quil chasing Embry down the beach and Embry running ahead like his life depended on it. Jacob and Michelle both shook their heads in amusement. Those boys were something else.

After a moment, Jacob turned to give her a look before nodding towards a small overhang of trees along the shore. She simply nodded and followed him with her small bag of necessities hanging in a small backpack over her shoulder. Unfortunately for Michelle, she has always had issues with getting sunburn and dehydrated more quickly than what was probably considered normal for a girl her age. Because of that, whenever she went to the beach— even if just for a half an hour— she always made sure to load up on sunscreen and water. There was only one time that she can remember forgetting her bag at home, and after forty-five minutes of being in the sun, she passed out. It scared the hell out of Jacob, and ever since, he always made sure that she remembered to bring her little "beach bag", as the boys called it.

After finding a comfortable, shady spot, Jacob and Michelle rolled out a big beach towel that Jacob had brought and plopped down next to each other. Jacob let out a long sigh and fell onto his back with a small _thud!_ Michelle gave him a quick glance while rummaging through her stuff to find her chap-stick. "What's your problem?"

He didn't say anything at first. Michelle paused in her quest for chap-stick and turned to give him her full attention, only to find that he was already staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

He blinked, almost as if her words had snapped him out of some kind of trance. "Oh, nothing. Just haven't been to the beach with you in a while. You've been pretty busy."

She raised a brow. "I see you almost every day."

"Yeah," he agreed, "but, we haven't come to the beach together in a while. There's a difference."

"I didn't know us having beach time together was so important to you."

He paused again. "Well it is."

Michelle narrowed her eyes in confusion. He had never really made a big deal about going to the beach together. Whenever they went, they went. That was that. But then again, she had been pretty busy lately. Ever since she began her creative writing class, she's had her hands full with projects upon projects and other homework to top it off. Sure, she saw him every day. She practically lived at Billy's house after all. But when she was there, she was usually doing work for school. They were in the same room together, but they were doing their own thing.

Now that she thought about it, it's actually been awhile since Jacob and her have done something together period. Not just go to the beach, but anything.

Her eyes softened.

"Well summer isn't technically over yet. We still got a few more weeks, so we can go to the beach every day if you want."

His eyes widened and he shook his head. "Yeah, no. I don't think so. You're puny, pale little body can't handle that much sunlight. You'll melt."

She threw her hand at his arm, smirking victoriously when it connected in a resounding _clap_! He yelped, "Ow! Mitchie, what the hell?!"

"Aw, what? Did that hurt? Who's the puny one now?"

His eyes narrowed as if angry, but there was no way she could ever take him seriously. The smile playing on his lips gave him away. "You really shouldn't ha-"

"Yo Jake! You better not be messing with our girl Mitch!" Embry popped up beside Jacob.

"Is this guy bothering you Mitchie? We'll take care of him for you." Quil added in, wrapping an arm around Michelle's shoulder.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Please. If anyone's bothering anyone here it would be her bothering me. I'm an angel."

"That's what a creep would say. Right Embry?"

"Totally. Just goes to show, you never really know a person."

"Alright," Jacob jumped up from his spot on the towel and cracked his knuckles. "I'll give you two a head start. Run."

The two took off once again, this time with Jacob following.

Michelle laughed so hard her cheeks hurt. And that's how the rest of the day was spent— laughing and running around while Jacob occasionally reminded her to drink some water or reapply her sunscreen. It was fun— a lot of fun. More fun than she had in awhile.

Jacob was right, they need to come to the beach more often.

* * *

NOVEMBER

* * *

"Why is it that you have better hair than me? It's not fair."

Jacob laughed, accidentally pulling his head away from Michelle's hands. She kept her grip on the three pieces she had sectioned off, pulling them back into place before continuing her french braid.

"Just because it's longer doesn't mean it's nicer. It just means I need a haircut."

Michelle continued to weave the pieces of hair, taking her time to make sure that they were secure and smooth. "If you ever do anything more than a trim I will finish the job for you and shave your head bald in your sleep."

"You will not."

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Do you really want to find out?"

He chuckled. "Touche. Although, personally, I think I would rock the bald look."

She scoffed.

"What, you don't think so?"

"There's no way. You would look like a peanut."

This had Jacob doubling over. It wasn't really that funny, but it was late and it was getting to that point in the night where everything was funny.

Michelle chuckled as he gasped for air. She slapped him on the shoulder. "Shut up, you're going to wake your dad up."

He took a moment to breathe deeply and collect himself. Finally, he had his laughter under control, but the smile on his face was still lighting up the room. "Sorry, sorry. You're right. Quiet time."

She huffed out a laugh before continuing to weave the pieces of his hair together. They fell into a bought of silence, the only noise being her laptop that was sitting beside Jacob on the floor playing one of the most recent Marvel movies.

"Hey Mitchie?"

She hummed.

"Do…" he sighed. "What do you think about the whole Embry thing?"

Her hands froze, the strands of hair threatening to fall through her fingers before she snapped out of it and continued her ministrations. It was a good question. She had been trying not to think too much about the whole situation, but that's pretty hard to do when one of your best friends just basically up and leaves you for what's rumored to be a gang.

Now granted, Michelle didn't really believe in the whole "gang" talk going around about Sam and his group of friends, but she had to admit, they were kind of suspicious. Not in a "we're selling drugs and if you cross our path, we'll kill you" type of way, but everything about them just felt so secretive and closed off. And they definitely don't try to hide how sketchy they were acting. They definitely weren't acting casual about it. If anything, their behavior only proved to make them look more suspicious.

And now Embry's with them. He hasn't talked to Michelle, Jacob, or Quil in the past three weeks. It was like he just one day decided that he didn't want to bother with them anymore.

She had to admit, it really hurt.

"I don't know… Maybe he's just going through something."

Jacob turned around, thankfully after she had tied off the braid with an elastic. "What do you mean 'maybe he's going through something'? Even if he was, he would at least tell us right? You have to admit, it's weird that he just cut ties with us out of nowhere. And for Sam's gang? Something doesn't add up!"

Michelle rolled her eyes, looking down to meet his gaze from where she was sitting cross-legged on the bed behind him. "Sam doesn't have a gang Jake, that's ridiculous."

"Well it makes sense! Him, Jared, Paul, and now Embry. One by one, they all grew to the size of giants and suddenly got all suspicious and secretive, and the common factor? They all joined Sam's little group. Maybe it's not a gang, but whatever it is seems fishy."

She didn't know what to say to that. He was right. There were so many things that just seemed… odd about that group. And now Embry, someone who used to make fun of them and conspire about them, is a part it.

Jacob sighed, calming himself down a bit. She knew this was difficult for him. After all, Embry was his friend too.

She reached out and pushed a stray chunk of bangs behind his ear. He leaned into her touch and fell forward, resting his cheek against her leg with his eyes closed.

"I just can't believe he left us like that."

"I know."

He turned his head so that he could look her in the eye and smiled. "At least I still have you."

She felt the heat rising to her cheeks and was suddenly grateful that the room was too dark for him to see.

He had been having this effect on her lately. For the past couple of months, there would be moments where he would say something that made her feel weird. Maybe it was the way he would say it, or the looks he gave her so casually that always somehow felt special to her.

Michelle had an inkling of what these sudden feelings might be, but she refused to believe it.

She couldn't afford to be dealing with those types of feelings right now. Her and Jacob were best friends. She couldn't afford to mess that up with a stupid crush.

"You have Quil too y'know," she muttered, narrowing her eyes slightly at the computer screen in hopes of avoiding eye contact. She knew that looking into those eyes could be dangerous for someone in her position, so she purposefully avoided them.

She felt his head shake against her calf. "Yeah, but that's different. He's one of my best friends, but you're more than that. You're like, my best friend squared."

She couldn't help but feel a hint of pain in her chest at his words, but she ignored it. There was never going to be a right time for that. It wasn't going to happen. She needed to get over it.

Chuckling lightly, she shook her head in amusement. "Best friend squared? Is that the best you could come up with?"

She could practically feel him roll his eyes at her. "You know what I mean. It's different with you."

She was quiet for a moment. "I know what you mean."

"And I know you'd never join a gang and cut ties with me."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Fortunately, gangs aren't my thing."

"You'll never leave me."

Her smile fell.

"Never."

* * *

JANUARY

* * *

"Where is he?"

Michelle had been calling Jacob for the past twenty minutes, but he had still yet to respond and it was really starting to annoy her.

"Maybe he forgot his phone at home and he's running late."

"He's never this late Quil, and he always answers his phone. Something's not right…"

She tried calling him again, but this time it went straight to voicemail. She pulled her phone back from her ear and glared harshly at the device. Not only were they now missing the movie that her and the two boys had been planning to see for the past month because of Jacob "running late", but now she was starting to get worried that something had happened to him.

"He better be dying…" she mumbled under her breath. Quil seemed to have heard her, however, as he let out a long, dramatic sigh of agreement.

"I'm sure it's something importa-"

Her phone started ringing, catching the attention of both teenagers.

It was Jacob.

She answered on the first ring. "Where the hell are you? We've been standing out here in the cold for the past twenty minutes waiting for you, so you better have a damn good excuse!"

" _Shit, I didn't realize I was that late. Listen, I'm not going to be able to make it."_

Quil saw the look of rage settle onto Michelle's face and shook his head, taking a step back to avoid being a target of her wrath.

"Are you kidding me?"

" _No, I'm so sorry Mitchie-"_

"Don't call me that!"

It went silent for a second. Quil watched it all unfold, careful to be quiet as the tension grew thick around them.

A sigh rang over the other end of the call. " _Come on, don't be like that…"_

Michelle opened her mouth to protest, but fought the urge with a deep breath. She didn't want to make a scene.

"Are you seriously just not coming? Is everything okay?"

" _Yeah, everything's fine. It's just that Bella_ — _you remember her from when we were little, right? Well, she came back in town today and I didn't know until this morning so I-"_

She hung up without letting him finish.

She was mad. Not only mad, but hurt as well. Probably more hurt than mad if she were being completely honest with herself. He ditched them. He literally ditched them.

"Um," Quil squeaked when she turned her attention to him. "I-is everything okay?"

"He's not coming."

"I gathered that, but did he say why?"

She shook her head in mild disbelief. Jacob had never been one to pull shit like this with her or Quil or any of his friends.

"Apparently Chief Swan's daughter came back into town today so he went to see her instead."

She couldn't help the bitterness that leaked into her voice near the end. And she didn't really care either. She was too frustrated to care.

"Wait, seriously." Even Quil sounded shocked. "So he just ditched us?"

She nodded.

"Damn." He didn't know what to say, and she couldn't really blame him. She felt the same.

"We're already 25 minutes late, you wanna just wait for the next show? It starts in an hour." Screw Jake. They didn't need him to have a good time. They had been waiting far too long to see this movie to let one person ruin it for them. "We can just go get some food in the meantime. I haven't eaten yet."

Quil nodded. "Yeah, okay."

They quickly purchased their tickets so they wouldn't have to wait in the line later before heading down the street to a pizza place that they always went to.

On the way, all Michelle could seem to think was the same four words over and over on a loop.

Screw you Jacob Black.

* * *

FEBRUARY

* * *

Michelle would like to say that Jacob ditching her was a one-time thing, but she would be lying. Ever since that day, Jacob had become one of the most unreliable people she knew, and for what? Some girl he knew when he was ten?

Michelle was quickly becoming sick of being stood up at the last minute every time they made plans to hang out. One or two times, she could get over, but when being ignored started to become a regular thing, she had to put her foot down. She was beyond annoyed with him, and what better way to show you're pissed at someone than to ignore them completely.

So that's exactly what she did and has been doing for the past week. Every time Jacob called to inevitably cancel and reschedule the plans they had, she would mute her phone and ignore the call. Every text he would send her trying to explain himself, she would not read. Her inbox had been steadily filling up over the past few days, but she didn't mind.

He even tried sending her an email, to which she promptly spammed.

She had successfully avoided him after school as well since she had photography club for an hour and a half after classes ended while he goes home right when he gets off.

Overall, it seemed fairly petty, what she was doing to him, but in her mind he deserved it. If he wants to blow her off for nothing important, then why even bother giving him the time of day?

It's not like he was her best friend or anything.

It's not like they had been thicker than thieves for eighty percent of their lives.

It's not like they were each others everything.

It's not like any of that stuff mattered to Jacob anymore, so why should it matter to her?

* * *

Friday had been rough for Michelle.

School had dragged on for what felt like hours longer than it actually was. She forgot her homework for Physics on the kitchen table and her teacher is one of those teachers that are adamant on no late work, so that dropped her overall grade a good two percent. She tripped over a stupid rolly backpack on the way to lunch and cut up her knee on the concrete outside. And then she got home to an empty fridge and had no money to fill it.

It was a pretty bad day for her, and she was feeling absolutely miserable. Not only was she having a bad day, but she had nobody that she could talk to in order to make it better.

Her father hadn't been home since Tuesday— something about a business conference in Texas.

Quil was busy helping his mom prepare their house for guests tonight. Apparently they were having some distant family coming into town for the weekend, so he had his hands pretty much tied until Monday morning.

Embry was out of the question at this point. He had practically removed himself from their lives months ago and hasn't spoken a word to any of them since.

That just left Jacob.

Despite how angry, annoyed, and hurt she had been with Jacob over the last week and a half, she found herself desperately missing him on multiple occasions. Especially in times like these when she was used to just calling him over to brighten her day.

Because no matter what type of situation she's going through, she always had Jacob to rely on to cheer her up. That was never out of the question.

But now it was, and Michelle's chest clenched at the that harsh reality.

Without giving herself a chance to be realistic and back out, she picked up her phone and called him. She didn't care how mad she was. She didn't care that she had been ignoring him for the past 10 days. She didn't care that he had given up trying to get a hold of her six days in.

She just wanted her best friend.

But she called, and called, and called.

And he never answered.

* * *

APRIL

* * *

Two whole months went by before she heard even a single word from Jacob. It wasn't even intentional either. She had been walking past his house on the way to the only corner store in town and he had just been pulling into his driveway with Billy. They probably went grocery shopping or something, but that didn't matter to her. All that mattered to Michelle was that Jacob—perfectly healthy and a bit taller and more muscular than before—was helping his father into his wheelchair like nothing was wrong in the world.

The same Jacob who hadn't returned her calls. The same Jacob who couldn't even bother to text her back letting her know that he was okay.

The same Jacob she hadn't spoken a single word to in over two months.

"Jake!"

She couldn't walk by without saying something. No matter how mad she was, or how frustrated, or how defeated, she couldn't just say nothing as their friendship slipped between her fingers.

She couldn't let that happen.

He froze at the sound of her voice, continuing to secure the safety bar on the wheelchair before turning to see the small girl running up their dirt driveway towards him.

Billy took a glance between the two of them as she came to a stop a few feet away. He nodded his head cautiously, muttering something about letting us work out our own problems before rolling into the house with a couple of grocery bags hanging off one of the handles on the back of his wheelchair.

The two watched him leave before turning back to one another. Jacob was staring intensely at his feet while Michelle met his eyes with conviction. She was finally talking to him. After so long, she was finally standing in front of her best friend again.

She wanted to say so much. There were so many questions and so many explanations sitting on the tip of her tongue, yet the words didn't seem to want to come out of her mouth.

So she did the only thing she could think of at the moment.

She ran straight into the unsuspecting boy's chest, wrapping her arms tightly around him and burying her head into his neck. He stiffened at the contact, but slowly relaxed, bringing his arms up to wrap around her waist.

They held each other tightly, neither wanting to be the one to let go.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her breath bouncing softly off of the skin where his neck met his shoulder.

She didn't know why she apologized. She didn't do anything wrong after all. But she did it. She apologized, because she knew that if she didn't, then this awful silence between the two of them would go on longer and longer until it became permanent.

And god knows she didn't want that.

So she bit her lip and said it. Even though she didn't have to. Even though the roles should have been reversed, she did it anyways in order to get her best friend back.

That night, he didn't say a word.

* * *

MAY

* * *

"I don't know. What are you guys ordering?"

Michelle, Jacob, and Quil were out to breakfast at Sue's Diner for the first time in what felt like forever. Michelle had invited the two boys after school the previous day to spend the night at her place to have a movie marathon and since there was no food in the house for breakfast, they all decided to head over to Sue's.

"I'm getting the all you can eat pancakes," Quil said without even looking at his menu. Jacob perked up.

"Oo, sounds good. I think I'll do that too."

Michelle chuckled. "Might as well join the party."

After ordering their meals the trio got to talking as they awaited their food.

Taking a sip from her water, Michelle leaned forward placing an elbow on the table. "Man, I'm tired."

Quil laughed. "Well, you were the one who wanted to finish the last movie. What time did you actually end up falling asleep anyways?"

She looked sheepishly down at her drink. "Three."

Jacob snorted. "And you wonder why you're tired."

She glared at him, tossing her straw wrapper into his long hair in retaliation. She didn't expect for him to block it, however, which only made her pout some more.

"By the way," Jacob said, ignoring my pouting face. "Where was your dad? Was he out of town or something? I'm surprised he let us stay the night."

The other two fell silent. Quil's eyes widened, giving Jacob a look of disbelief and Michelle was simply frozen— hand hovering over her drink, straw drawn in between her index and middle fingers.

Jacob looked confused. "What?"

Quil snapped out of it first, shaking his head slowly while glancing at me and then back to Jacob. "Dude, bad topic…"

"What? Why?"

Michelle's eyes hadn't moved from her glass. It was amazing how a question so innocent can snap you back to reality so quickly.

Her father had gone on a "business trip" three weeks ago. He has been gone ever since then, which worried her to no ends, but what was worse was the first thing she heard back from him was a text meant for someone else.

" _I'll pick up some milk on the way home."_

It was a simple enough text. However, it was what was in between the lines that hurt the most.

As innocent as that text was, it spoke volumes in terms of where her father has been going on and off for the past year or so. At first she believed him when he said that it was business, obviously. Who wouldn't believe that right off the bat? But as time progressed, she realized how inconsistent these business meetings were. Also, most of them were in the same small town in California.

She was suspicious, but it wasn't until she received that text a week ago that she decided to investigate.

And low-and-behold, what did she find?

Her father had another family.

Yes, it was a shock. At first, she didn't know whether or not to even believe it. But the evidence was all there.

Her father had another family. In California. Where he spent more time than he did with her, his only blood-related child. Or maybe that wasn't true anymore. According to the paperwork she found, he had been with these people for the past 14 months.

To say it was a shock would have been an understatement. For that whole night, her chest was tight and her stomach was in knots. Her eyes were flooded and her throat kept clenching, giving her a massive migraine to boot.

She needed Jacob that night. She needed her best friend to be there for her and hug her and reassure her that everything was okay. She needed someone to tell her that it was all wrong. That the feeling of abandonment that was beginning to sink into her heart was ridiculous and that she would wake up the next morning realizing it had all been a dream.

But he didn't answer.

"Seriously guys, who died?"

"Maybe you would know if you actually picked up your phone once in a while."

The spite that ran through those words surprised even herself. She really didn't want to hash out these feelings now. Her and Jacob's friendship had been treading on thin ice ever since she apologized to him, and she really didn't want to be the one to shatter the illusion that everything was okay.

Too bad it wasn't her head talking anymore.

Jacob's jaw hung open as he tried to figure out how to respond. Michelle and him have rarely ever thrown harsh words at each other. When they fight, they say things as they are and figure out how they can fix it.

They don't get malicious.

Before he had the chance to speak, Quil tried cutting in. "Mitchie…"

"No, don't involve yourself in this Quil. This is between Jacob and myself."

Jacob's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she pushed her drink aside. "I'm sick of your bullshit."

"What the hell-"

"If you had even once tried thinking about anybody other than yourself or your precious Bella, maybe you wouldn't be so clueless as to what's been going on in the real world lately."

Both boys were equally as baffled, but for different reasons. Quil was shocked that she had the balls to say something now—and here of all places—while Jacob was just confused.

He began getting defensive. "One, don't bring Bella into this. And two, what the hell are you going on about? I just asked if your dad was away on business."

"Right!" she laughed hysterically, drawing some attention from the neighboring tables. "God forbid I spoke harshly of the deity that is Ms. Swan! And like I said, maybe if you actually cared enough to be there for me when I needed you, you'd know that my dad left me three weeks ago to go fuck around with his new family!"

At this point, the whole diner had eyes on their table. People started whispering to each other in hushed tones, but Michelle didn't care. Everything was finally coming out and it felt so damn good.

Jacob's eyes were wide. "What?" It was barely a whisper, but it got its point across nonetheless.

"And you know who I had to turn to?! Nobody! Absolutely nobody! And it's all because of you and your little master! I'm so sick of hearing the same thing 'Bella this' and 'Bella that'. You're turning into a selfish prick the more time you spend with her and I'm getting sick of it!"

Guilt and shame began festering within Jacob, but instead of recognizing it and accepting it, he ignored the unpleasant feelings and used them to fuel his defense. "Hey! Don't talk about Bella like that! You don't have any right!"

"Fuck you! Yes, I do! Because of her, I'm losing the closest person to me, so if I wanna call her a manipulative skank then I will!"

"Stop being such a bitch Michelle!"

Michelle tried to ignore the pain that sprung up at his words. She can take name-calling, but when it was Jacob, it was different.

She slammed her hands on the table and stood, causing the silverware to rattle, some falling to the floor.

"Fuck you Jacob. Fuck you and your pathetic one-sided love bullshit. She doesn't even like you! Get over it!"

He stood as well. "She does like me, and I like her! A lot! You're just jealous because nobody loves you, not even your own dad!"

It went quiet. So quiet, that you could hear a pin drop. All noise in the kitchen stopped as soon as Michelle stood and everybody in the building was now staring at the two uncomfortably.

Everything seemed to go still in Michelle's mind. Her heart felt like it stopped and her hands went ice cold.

 _Nobody loves you. Not even your own dad._

Her eyes welled up with tears.

"Mitchie... I-I'm so sorry… I didn't mean-"

She couldn't even look at him right now. She just needed to get out of there. She needed to leave. Her throat was starting to tighten and her chest felt heavy. She needed to get out of there.

She stumbled out from between the chair and the table and rushed towards the door.

"Mitchie wait!"

She was gone.

* * *

It had been a couple of weeks since she last spoke to anybody. Even at school, she would go to her classes, eat her lunch in a secluded corner of the library while she did her homework, and then leave. She had skipped her last few photography club meetings. The club manager had approached her after class a couple of days ago to tell her that if she kept skipping, then they would be forced to kick her out.

She didn't care. She just wanted to be left alone.

Her father showed up for a couple of nights about a week ago, but then left again. She hasn't heard from him since. Hell, he barely spoke to her while he was there. He simply said hi, left her a hundred bucks, and then watched television in his room while he "worked" for the rest of the time he was in the house.

At least she had money for some groceries now.

She hadn't spoken to Jacob at all. They were back to ignoring one-another, except this time he didn't even bother trying to get a hold of her.

And now Quil had disappeared on her too. She tried calling him a few times in the beginning in a desperate attempt at gaining some company. As much as she wanted time to herself, cutting herself off was hard at first.

But he didn't answer her. She started to get worried at first before realizing the pattern in his behavior. First Embry, then Jacob, now Quil. What the hell was with her friends and leaving her? Was it some sort of trend that she didn't know about? Or did she just have a habit of picking shitty people as friends?

She was starting to get used to being alone now. She knew that it probably wasn't healthy to be thinking that way, but it was the truth. The more time she spent alone, the more she became accustomed to it. People ignoring her phone calls became such a regular thing for her that she gave up even trying, and developing a routine around the house to keep herself from slumping around in her bed all day grew easier and easier as the days went by.

That being said, however, she still couldn't help but question where it all went wrong for her.

Did she overreact around Jacob? Maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut…

Why did she blow up over such a small, harmless, rhetorical question?

Why is she double-guessing herself constantly?

Why is everybody she loves leaving her?

Why does everybody leave her?

* * *

SEPTEMBER

* * *

She didn't know what to expect when stepping into the diner. It was the same diner that she caused a scene in months ago, so maybe she thought that people would recognize her because of that?

She didn't know what she was expecting, but she definitely wasn't expecting nothing.

And nothing is all she got.

"Come on Elle, you're blocking the door."

Michelle snapped out of her thoughts and moved aside, allowing the old couple that was waiting behind them to pass through. The girl next to her chuckled before nodding towards one of the tables. "Come on space-case, let's sit down."

The girl that she was with was a girl by the name of Natalie. She was new to Michelle's calculus class—having been only recently put into advanced math—and had somehow managed to work her way into Michelle's lonely life.

Michelle didn't know how it happened exactly, but now the two girls were together pretty regularly.

"So, Ellie-Belly, what do you usually get for breakfast?"

That was another thing: the nicknames. Natalie had decided to make it her mission to call her by everything other than her actual name. And oddly enough, Michelle didn't mind too much. The only nickname she had ever been given was Mitchie, so getting some new ideas from an outside party wasn't so bad.

"Probably just the all you can eat pancakes. It's pretty cheap."

"Oo, maybe I'll get those too. I probably shouldn't be having that much sugar, but I guess…"

Michelle missed the end of what she had been saying when something caught her eye from across the room.

'No, it couldn't be,' she thought to herself.

It was Jacob.

Only buffer, taller, and with less hair.

And beside him was Quil, who was in the same boat as Jacob. And beside them was Embry. And sat with the three of them were Sam Uley, Paul Lahote, and Jared Cameron—resident "gang" members of the reservation.

They couldn't see her from where she was sitting, and for that, she was grateful, because all she could do was stare in disbelief.

They said they would never hang out with them. In fact, they hated them. So why…

She turned away quickly, as if one of them had looked over and caught her staring. She didn't know what to do—how to react.

They all looked so… different. They cut their hair, something Jacob swore he would never do, and what was with the sudden growth spurt? Were they on steroids or something? No. That was ridiculous. Her boys would never do something like that.

But clearly they did something, and whatever it was wasn't natural.

And then she realized something.

They weren't her boys anymore. They stopped being her boys after that fateful day that she blew up on Jacob here in this very diner. They stopped talking to her, stopped checking in with her, stopped visiting her.

She was nothing to them now.

She sighed, her eyes sliding closed to try and sooth the tension building behind them. They didn't want her anymore. That much was obvious.

And she was just going to have to accept that.

"Hey, are you okay? You look like you're about to cry or something."

She took a moment to collect herself before shaking her head and turning her attention back to the concerned blonde sitting in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What are you getting to drink?"


	4. Jacob x OC 2-Tears: Clean Bandits ft LJ

**Hello!**

 **Yes, it has been a hot minute, but I have finally finished this chapter! I cannot tell you how long I was stuck on one of the scenes in this chapter. It's one of the scenes towards the end, I literally re-wrote it like 6 times before finally getting an idea to flow with and end it off. And right at the end of summer too...**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this one. It's a PART 2 to "Consequences" because you all know damn well I wasn't about to just leave that as a cliffhanger. And I can say the same for this chapter as well. If you guys want more from this mini Jacob Black series, please let me know, because I'm kind of falling in love with my character for this ship, sooooo...**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Twilight or any of its characters.**

* * *

" _I don't need you to call me tonight.  
_ _I don't need you to see if I'm alright.  
_ _You left me, so leave me, I'm fine  
_ _I'll be here getting on with my life."_

* * *

One Year Later…  
OCTOBER

* * *

Breathe in… Breathe out…

Michelle had to remind herself to do these two simple things over and over again as she stared at the pristine looking envelope on the table in front of her. She had been staring at it for the past thirty minutes, her eyes going dry from forgetting to blink.

It seemed like a simple task. Just open the envelope and read what is inside. It's really not a hard thing to do.

In theory, that is. In reality, finding the will to look inside that neatly folded bit of paper was nearly impossible. The uncertainty of what it said, however, brought her to grab ahold of it, pulling it gently into her hesitant hands as if it were made of glass.

She grabbed the scissors that she brought from her desk and looked it over one more time before opening up the scissors and slicing the envelope open.

Pulling out the small packet —something that was hopefully a good sign—she took in another deep breath before unfolding the stack of papers and reading through them, starting from the beginning.

Her heart stopped as she read over the words at the top of the lengthy paragraph.

Her hand flew to cover her mouth and tears slipped down her face.

* * *

NOVEMBER

* * *

"Tell me again why you're working so many hours? I don't care what you say. You're clearly miserable."

Michelle groaned, her face planted firmly into one of the throw-pillows that litter her friend's couch.

"I'm not miserable, I'm just a bit tired." Said friend rolled her eyes in response.

"Yeah, tired and miserable."

Michelle rolled her head to the side to glare in the other girl's direction. "I'm fine Natalie, I just had a long day."

"Every day is a long day for you. Hell, you're in school for six hours and then working for another eight. That's fourteen hours of strenuous misery, and that doesn't even include homework! Which by the way, how do you still have a perfect GPA? Do you just not sleep or something?"

Michelle listened to the girl rant with her eyes closed, trying to soak up as much rest as she can before she has to get started on the _Crucible_ essay that's due tomorrow for her literature class.

She mentally groaned. Just thinking about it was making her head hurt.

"Look at you! You can't even keep your eyes open. Why don't you just go to sleep?"

Michelle sighed before moving to sit up. She yawned loudly, stretching her limbs in the process, and shook her head.

"You know I have that essay due."

"Then you should have called out today. I'm sure your manager would underst-"

"Natalie," Michelle held her hand up. "You know I need the money. The first payment is due next week and then I have two more after that. And with what I'm being paid, I need all the hours I can get to be able to afford the airfare and food costs. I need this job."

Natalie quietly looked at Michelle. Finally, she sighed and leaned back into the love seat she had situated herself on.

"I know, I know." she said. "I just… You worry me sometimes."

Michelle smiled. "I'm fine, I promise. A few less hours of sleep isn't going to kill me. If anything, it'll get me ready for the years to come."

They both chuckled at that. Natalie shook her head. "I can't believe you're going to be gone in a couple months."

Michelle stared at the coffee table in front of her. "Yeah, me neither. It still doesn't feel real."

"And when are you supposed to be coming back?"

She picked at the logo on the bottom corner of her work uniform, a small frown pulling at her features. "Next December. Right in time for Christmas."

Natalie nodded. "Well, it's not too long. But you better call me every day. I want to know about all the cute Irish boys you meet."

Michelle's frown disappeared as she chuckled. "I'm not going there to meet boys Nat."

Her friend shrugged. "Doesn't mean you aren't gonna. I'm serious though, you better not be holding out on me. I want all the details."

Michelle laughed, throwing the pillow she had been using at the girl's head. They both took a few moments to revel in the light air that surrounded them. Michelle was so busy these days with school or work that moments like this, where she was just able to sit back and laugh, were rare. Despite having been staying with Natalie and her family for the past couple of months, she barely saw her friend anymore. Their schedules just didn't match up.

Their laughter finally died down and the room fell into silence.

Natalie was the one to break it. "For real though, this is an incredible opportunity and I'm really happy for you. If anybody deserves this, it's you."

Michelle looked at her friend for a moment before a smile broke out on her face. "You're the best, Natalie. Thank you."

The girl waved her hand. "Don't thank me, just deliver on what I asked for. I want to hear about everything, and if you don't send me pictures I'll come for you. Seriously, I can't believe my best friend is going to study abroad in Ireland without me. The audacity."

* * *

DECEMBER

* * *

Michelle had been leaving the mall—she needed a new pair of work boots due to the tragic state that hers were in—when her phone went off in her pocket. She went to grab it while juggling all of her things, before finally managed to pull it out after a few rings.

Without even checking to see who it was, she swiped to answer the call and shoved the device in between her shoulder and her ear while simultaneously readjusted everything she was carrying.

"Hello?"

After a moment when she finally had everything situated again, she realized that nobody was answering her.

"Hello?" she tried again.

"Mitchie?"

She froze. Pulling the phone back, she saw a familiar number across the top of the screen that was no longer saved in her contacts but could still easily be recognized.

Without a second thought, she ended the call. Why was _he_ calling her? She hasn't seen or heard from him in over a year. She thought that he moved on with his life at this point.

Jacob Black.

That was a name she hadn't had to think about in a long time. After she and him had their big blowout fight in the diner on the reservation over a year ago, she hasn't so much as stepped foot on the reservation since. And that was pretty easy to do, considering once Jacob and her stopped talking, so did her and everybody else on the reservation. Hell, even Billy doesn't talk to her anymore—the man that was practically a second father to her.

Not a single one of them stayed in contact with her and honestly, she's happy they didn't. Without them dragging her back into all of the drama that became her old friend-group she was able to move on and push herself to expand and do better things. She wasn't stuck in the limbo that was her life back then.

However, as miserable as that part of her life seemed to be, looking at where she is now makes all of it look so insignificant. It was a rough patch for her, no doubt, but now all of her windows are open with so many opportunities for her. The biggest reason that everything hurt so much back then was because she felt stuck. Stuck in the same place with nowhere to go and no money to get there. Stuck with no friends to talk to and no family to rely on. She was just stuck.

It's amazing how so much can change in such a short amount of time.

Now, she's living with the girl that has been with her through all the ups and downs that the last year has had to bring. Now, she is working hard to save her own money so that she can study abroad in Ireland through the college that she got accepted into early due to her outstanding grades and extracurricular achievements. Now, she is moving onto a new phase of her life that's completely uncharted and ready to be explored. This was her life now, and it was a life that she was creating with her own two hands. She was finally pushing past the barriers that used to hold her back.

So, while the Michelle back then might have answered Jacob's call and tried to work things out with the boy she used to love whole-heartedly, the Michelle that exists now is content with how things worked out.

For now, all she is going to focus on is herself, and whatever happens later can be left undecided. For now, she's just going to enjoy her time left here in Forks and prepare herself for the new chapter that's opening up before her.

A chapter that Jacob Black is not going to be a part of.

* * *

JANUARY

* * *

"Moody! Get back here!"

Michelle laughed as she watched her best friend leap out of the car and run down the dirt path towards the beach. The dog she ran off chasing had created a sizable distance between the two as he rushed towards the water, diving in before Natalie could get her hands on him. Michelle shook her head in amusement and took it upon herself to grab their stuff.

She slowly made her way down towards her friend, taking her time to enjoy the view of the sun setting over the horizon. One thing that she would actually miss about Forks was the view. When it wasn't pouring out, the rocky, cliff-ridden shorelines of the Olympic peninsula made for some spectacular sunsets.

Michelle caught up with Natalie a few minutes later. The girls stood there for a moment, watching Natalie's dog, Moody, run around in the water before Natalie shook her head and sighed. "I swear, that dog is going to get himself killed one day. How the hell am I supposed to keep up with him when he just takes off like that?"

Michelle smirked. "For a three-legged dog, you'd think he'd be easier for you to catch."

"You're real funny, you know that?"

Ignoring her friend's scoff, she turned to her. "You wanna go walk around a bit. Maybe we can wear the little speedster out a bit? Make him easier to wrangle back into the car later."

"Yeah, yeah. Make fun of me all you want, but next time, you can be the one that takes Moody Watch. See how you like it."

Michelle shook her head while setting their stuff down into the sand. She slipped her phone into the pocket of her jeans and slid her shoes and socks off, waiting for Natalie to do the same, before they started making their way down the shoreline towards some of the well-known coves.

Every week, they liked to pick a day to take Moody to the beach and let him run around to get out some of his never-ending energy. He absolutely loved it, and it gave the girls a chance to relax and push all the stress of their busy schedules out of their minds for a couple hours. This, however, was their last time going as Michelle was leaving for Ireland in a couple of days.

"So, are you excited to be going soon? I know we always talk about it, but now it's only a couple of days away and… I don't know. It just feels more real now."

Michelle nodded. "Yeah. I'm a bit nervous, of course, but I can't wait. This might sound harsh, but I just feel like I'm finally climbing out of the cage I've been stuck in here. I don't know. As dramatic as that sounds, I know that as soon as I get on that plane, I'm going to finally feel some relief."

Natalie shook her head. "No, I completely understand that. Living here does sometimes feel like we're just stuck in a bear trap. But at least you have a way out now. That's all that matters."

Michelle glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eyes. The girl was looking down at her feet as she waded through the sand, kicking at it absentmindedly every now and then.

"You still have a chance at UCLA and Santa Barbara. Don't give up hope just yet."

The girl sighed. "Yeah, I know. I just can't help but feel like what I'm doing isn't enough. I mean, 5 universities have already declined my application Elle. That doesn't really do good things to a girl's self-esteem."

"To be fair, you only really applied to top tier schools. So really, the fact that you still have a chance at two of them after coming from this small town is a feat in and of itself."

"I know…" Natalie trailed off. "I'm just worried. And nervous. God, I'm so nervous. If I don't get into one of these schools I'm stuck going to Peninsula College and I really don't want to do that."

Michelle nodded. She wanted to mention that the girl could always apply to the same university that she had already been accepted into, but she figured she would keep her mouth shut for now. She knew that wasn't really an option for the girl. University of Washington was a decent school, but it wasn't Ivy League. And at this point, Ivy League was what was going to get Natalie as far away from this town as possible. Michelle couldn't blame her friend for her way of thinking. If her situation were different, she would probably be thinking the same way. But with her being accepted into the early study abroad program, Michelle didn't have to worry about location so much. Nothing was further away from this trap of a town than Ireland. She made sure of that...

She just really hoped that Natalie gets accepted into one of these schools. She was worried about what would happen if it doesn't happen.

"Anyways! Let's not focus on that right now. Let's focus on spending as much time together as we can before the fateful day arrives and I lose you for a whole year."

Michelle chuckled, and was about to respond when they turned around a bend filled with large rocks and stumbled upon a sight that made her stop in her tracks.

A bonfire. And judging by all the massive figures hulking around the firepit, it was a La Push bonfire.

"Elle? Why'd you stop?"

She barely registered what her friend had said. She was too busy trying to figure out if it would be easier to keep walking and just ignore them or simply turn and walk away before she's spotted. The second seemed like an almost childish thing to do, but the first ran the risk of them trying to communicate with her, and while she really didn't think that would even happen with how they dropped her the way they did, she wasn't sure she wanted to take the chance.

"Seriously Elle, Moody is running off again. Come on, before he jumps into those poor peoples' firepit and roasts himself alive."

Michelle was brought out of her thoughts by her friend's weird statement. Looking at the girl, she raised a brow in question of what the hell she was talking about. Natalie only smirked in response. "I knew that would get yuh, but seriously, that dumb dog is teetering dangerously close to that big group over there. Hurry up!"

After that, Natalie took off towards her dog, who was now hopping around a good fifty feet away from the very people Michelle did not want to see at the moment. She sighed. Of course this would happen. She was actually surprised that it hadn't happened sooner with how often they came to this beach.

After staring at her friend's figure as it moved further and further away from her, Michelle sighed for a second time. Looks like she's going to have to risk it. Slowly, almost hesitantly, she continued walking towards where Natalie was trying to catch her hobbling, excited pup. As she got closer, she heard the girl yelling out profanities as the dog kept managing to worm himself out of her grip. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight. It was in those few seconds where she let down her guard that she heard a familiar voice call out.

"Mitchie?"

Her eyes widened and she quickly turned to see one of the large figures jogging over to her.

Why did she think that this was a good idea again?

"Holy crap, Mitchie! I haven't seen you in forever! How are you doing?"

At first, she didn't recognize the boy with his big, bulky form. The cheerful rambling that came out of his mouth before he had even reached her, however, told her all she needed to know.

"Seth?"

Natalie stood up after finally wrangling Moody into her arms. She was panting slightly as she looked between Michelle and Seth with a look of confusion on her face. "You know this guy Elle?"

Michelle was unfortunately too busy being shocked stupid to answer her best friend. Seth—little, dorky Seth—looked like… this? She couldn't process that for the life of her. How did somebody so small and scrawny end up looking like a cheesy romance novel cover photo?

And then she remembered something that she had managed to forget after so long of not being around the La Push boys: their insane growth spurts. She forgot about how weird everything revolving around La Push really was.

Pushing those thoughts aside, however, she managed to reign in her surprise. Who cares if Seth looked like a 20 year old marine stuck in a 15 year old's body? That wasn't her concern anymore.

All of her nerves regarding running into her old friends started to disappear at that realization. None of that was any of her business anymore. She was no longer friends with them. She wouldn't say that the La Push boys were strangers to her now, because that simply wasn't true. They were acquaintances now. Not friends, not strangers, not enemies. Just acquaintances.

"Yeah, met him through one of my old friends."

Seth's smile faltered briefly at her explanation, but it didn't last long as his signature goofy smile quickly reappeared. He looked at Natalie to introduce himself. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm Seth."

"Natalie…" she trailed off giving Michelle a questioning glance. The girl simply shook her head, a sign that she didn't want to talk about it in front of this person. Taking that as her cue, Natalie opened her mouth to relieve some of the subtle tension that was building between the other two. "Sorry you had to see all that by the way. If I didn't stop this little monster, he probably would have tossed himself right into your fire. He's not the brightest bulb in the bunch."

At that, Moody groaned and nipped at his owner's ear. She yelped in shock, bringing a hand up to check for damage. "Moody! What the hell dude?!"

The smug look on the dog's face made Michelle sigh in exasperation. Turning away from the two, she smiled sheepishly at the amused boy standing next to her. "I'm so sorry about them. You can just ignore them. I do it all the time."

"Hey! Don't rope me in with this mangy mutt!"

Another sound from Moody followed by a yelp rang out..

"Alright that's it, I'll give you five seconds to run before I fry you up myself you little demon-spawn!"

And then they were off. Michelle once again sighed, her hand coming up to rub the bridge of her nose. "Again, so sorry about them."

At this point, Seth looked like he was trying his best to hold back his laughter. He waved a hand, "Don't worry about it. They seem like quite the duo."

She scoffed. "You have no idea."

Seth's face quirked into an amused smile. She has never been super close with the younger boy, but she knew him well enough to know that he probably felt her absence when she stopped coming around. She couldn't help but wonder if Jacob or Quil ever told the others what happened between them. After all, she was sure that people like Embry and Seth had questions. Or maybe they just lied and said that she decided to ditch them for something better.

Whatever the case may be, it _wasn't her problem now._

"You know," Seth drawled. "Jacob's here too. And I'm pretty sure everybody heard me when I said your name earlier. Maybe you two should-"

"Stop Seth."

His feature straightened out. "I'm just saying, maybe if you two talk-"

"No."

"Mitchie…"

"Don't call me that." Seeing Seth flinch at the bite in her voice made her regret losing control of her emotions like that. She took a moment to calm herself before continuing. "Sorry, there's just no reason for us to talk anymore. He made that clear a long time ago."

"I guess… But maybe you guys-"

"Seth," she stopped him. "Look, I'm not angry at anybody anymore. There's nothing to work out or fix. I've just moved on. Plain and simple."

The boy looked at her for a moment, letting her words sink in. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but held it back.

"Alright. But I'm pretty sure Embry and Quil really want to see you. Quil was originally going to come over here, but I figured you'd rather talk to a third party. Plus, I kinda missed you. It really is good to see you again."

Her expression softened. This boy was just a big sweetheart. Looking over his shoulder, she realized how close she was to the rest of his group. Most of them were sitting around the fire while a few of them were standing in a circle off to the side—their eyes focused on her. They didn't even bother looking away when she looked over either. Embry and Quil simply smiled at her, giving her a wave. Glancing over them, she made eye contact with Jacob for the first time in over a year. Instead of the boyish grin she remembered from all the time she spent with him, his face was drawn impassively with a hard edge that was never there before. As soon as their eyes met, however, something in his hardened expression changed. His eyes widened and a look of awe settled subtly into his features. She looked away. She couldn't handle that expression anymore.

"It's good to see you again too Seth. I should really go catch up with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb over there before they accidentally trip into the water and drown themselves. You can tell everybody hello for me though. "

Seth nodded slowly. "Yeah, I will. But hey! Maybe we can hang out sometime soon. Just you and me? You can always stop by for dinner too. I'm sure my mom would love to see you again."

Michelle grimaced at the hopeful expression on his face. She hoped that this wouldn't come up. She hoped that she'd be able to just slip away without having to tell anybody else.

"Actually Seth," she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "That wouldn't really work. I'm kind of leaving in a couple of days."

Seth's head tilted in confusion. "Leaving? You going on a vacation or something? Doesn't school start up again in a couple of days?"

Michelle sighed. "I'm not in school anymore, Seth. I graduated early. And no, I'm not going on a vacation. I got accepted into an undergrad study abroad program through my college, so I'll be studying abroad this year."

He seemed surprised before his face dropped into mild disappointment. Michelle wanted to walk away as the two fell into a small bout of silence, but would feel weird if she did, so she stayed were she was and remained quiet.

"That's… congrats I guess."

Michelle nodded awkwardly. "Thank you. I'm really looking forward to it."

Seth nodded. "I just... can't believe you're leaving. I don't know, I guess people from this town don't really leave very often. Where are you going to go?"

"I'll be in Ireland. I'll be working as an intern in architectural photography while I study cinematography. I got really lucky too. Practically everything is being paid for by scholarships through the university, so all I have to pay is airfare and living expenses."

The more she said, the more Seth's shoulders began to drop. Michelle felt bad. She could tell that the kid was really trying to mend whatever little friendship they had left, but her sudden news of moving across the world was no doubt crushing any hope he had. And to think, she wasn't even that close with Seth before all the drama that happened. She can't even imagine what it would be like to try telling this to somebody like Embry or Quil.

She really needed to get out of this conversation.

"That's fantastic! I'm so happy for you Michelle. Well, I should be getting back to the guys. Are you sure you don't want to talk to Jacob? Or even Embry and Quil? I'm sure they'd want to at least say goodbye to you."

Michelle thought about it for a brief second before standing firm in her decision that _none of this was her problem anymore_. She was moving on and running back to people from her past was a horrible way of going about it.

"I really have to go. Just say goodbye to them for me, would you?"

The poor kid looked torn, but nodded anyways. With a quick, awkward, one-armed hug, the boy turned and made his way back over to the rest of his friends, only looking back to give her one last smile.

"Hah! I finally caught you, you mangy mutt! Look Elle! I grabbed the little shit by his harness!"

Michelle sighed, a small smile creeping back onto her face as she watched her friend dangle her dog up in victory by the back of his harness while the dog squirmed, trying to knip at his owner's fingers.

Yeah, she made the right decision.

* * *

Michelle was viciously dragged into a group hug—the group consisting of Natalie, herself, and of course, Moody.

"Natalie... you're crushing... my lungs," Michelle gasped in between short breaths of air. Natalie only tightened her hold, burying her head into the crevice of Michelle's neck. Moody, feeling left out, pressed his head up from his position in Natalie's other arm and licked Michelle's face. He managed to get her right over the mouth and up into her nose, causing her to step back in disgust. She wiped his drool away with the sleeve of her shirt. "Yuck! Moody, I love you too buddy, but I thought we talked about this already. No tongue action…"

Finally managing to get a majority of his saliva off, Michelle focused on Natalie—who had backed away in Michelle's attempt at thrusting Moody's tongue away from her.

"Aw, come on Nat. Don't cry. You're going to make me cry."

Natalie sniffled and blinked rapidly in hopes of preventing any tears from falling. "I'm sorry, I just didn't think it would be this hard."

Michelle practically melted. Reaching out, she pulled the girl into another tight embrace, the two rocking on their feet as they held each other. "It won't be that bad, trust me. Watch, it will go by so fast, you won't even realize I'm gone."

Natalie scoffed sadly. "I call bullshit. I have no clue what I'm going to do without you for a whole year."

Michelle pulled back, hands firmly planted on the girl's shoulders. "Don't be like that. You'll be fine." She smirked slyly. "Especially after I send you pictures of all the cute Irish boys I meet."

Their laughs were loud and boisterous, causing those around them to give them weird looks. The two girls ignored them, however, in favor of enjoying their last few moments together in person for the next 11 months.

"Seriously though," Natalie's smile straightened out a bit into something more melancholy. "Don't forget to call and text me. Oh! And we can video-chat too. Also, text me when you land and let me know you made it safe. I want updates Elle. Don't forget and make me think your plane crashed and that you're floating on a seat cover somewhere in the Pacific. I'll never forgive you for that."

Michelle just watched as her friend rambled about all sorts of things, like "don't forget to get something to eat, you don't want to pass out in the air" and "I hope you went to the bathroom before getting on the plane, those plane toilets are atrocious."

She really couldn't have asked for a better best friend.

" _Flight B23 to Belfast International is now boarding. I repeat, flight B23 to Belfast International is now boarding. Thank you."_

Both girls—and surprisingly, Moody as well—grew serious.

"Well, this is it."

Michelle nodded. "Yep."

Natalie sighed and pulled away from Michelle. "You go and kick some architectures ass."

Michelle's eyes narrowed contemplatively. "Not sure that's how that works-"

"Just," Natalie shrugged, a small smile tugging at her lips affectionately. "Don't forget where you came from."

The heavy weight that had constantly been pressing into Michelle's chest ever since she discovered her father's sick secret finally felt like it was starting to loosen. Her throat welled up without her permission, leaving her feeling rather breathless.

She shook her head, lips pressed into a firm line to prevent them from quivering.

"Never."

As she walked onto that plane and took her window seat all the way in the back, she looked out of the window and sighed a huge breath of relief.

There was so much she could do from here. So many different directions she could go, and for once, all of these directions seemed accessible to her. She had so many opportunities lined up in front of her.

And they were all hers for the taking.


End file.
